The Fantastic Four, the Incredible Hulk, the Amazing Spider-Man, the Uncanny X-Menthese are just a few of the superheroes who've sprung from arguably comic-bookdom's greatest mind: Stan "the Man" Lee. With the proliferation of movies and games based on his creationsand particularly in light of this summer's blockbuster, The Hulk (directed by Ang Lee, no relation)GameNOW had the great honor of talking to Stan from his Los Angeles office.

STAN ON STAN

GameNOW: What are you up to now?

Stan: Well, I formed my own company. It's called POW! Entertainment, P-O-W! I'm sure you've already figured out that POW stands for Purveyors of Wonder. And we're just doing movies and television shows and animation shows. We have a number of things in development now, and it's very exciting.

STAN ON THE MOVIES

GameNOW: You've been involved in the movies (based on your creations) as an executive producer.

Stan: Well, my name is listed on all of them as executive producer. But I really don't have that much to do with the films.

GameNOW: But you've been in them .

Stan: Oh, I've done little cameos. Let's see, I did a cameo in X-Men, in Spider-Man, in Daredevil, and I just finished doing one in The Hulk where I actually speak. I understand they're going to advertise the movie as Stan Lee Speaks: The Hulk.

GameNOW: [laughs] Very good. What do you think of all the movies so far?

Stan: Oh, I think they've been absolutely wonderful. I think everybody in the movie business is surprised at how successful they've all been. And it's because they're treated as though they're very serious, important things. Nobody has the attitude, "Ah, it's just a comic-book story, you know, we'll bat it out." So in every one of them, they've played up the dialogue, the characterization, the rationale behind everything that happens. It started with Blade, which was the first one, and then, I think, came X-Men and then Spider-Man and then Daredevil and now The Hulk. And you wouldn't...you couldn't believe how many more are in the works. And they're all receiving the same kind of careful treatment because we want them to appeal to young people who've read the books and care for the characters. We also want them to be appealing to the kind of audience that liked Men in Black, or any good adventure story with a high concept of some sort. Even people who aren't comic- book fans.

STAN ON VIDEOGAMING

GameNOW: In terms of the videogames (based on your creations), have you been involved with them somewhat?

Stan: Well, what I've done is, I've narrated a lot of them. I've narrated a lot of the Spider-Man videogames. To be honest, I can't remember if I've narrated a Hulk game or not. I've just done so many.

GameNOW: What do you think of videogames in general?

Stan: Just between you and me, I don't have time to play them. But I think that they're wonderful because I have a lot of friends, young ones and older ones, who are really hooked on videogames, and they love them. I wish I were younger and I had more time, because I know I would love to play them. You can really enmesh yourself in the activity and in the little world that you enter on that screen, where you become one of the characters, and you're fighting along with themor against them, as the case may be. I mean, it must be a great experience for people.

GameNOW: You've published comics online, your own creations, so you've clearly embraced current technology as a storytelling medium. What do you think about videogames as a storytelling medium?

Stan: Oh, they're great because they're interactive. And you see, anything that involves pictures becomes a great storytelling medium because people love pictures. Now, when you get pictures that can move, that is the ultimate. But there's something even beyond the ultimate. When you get pictures that can move, that you can control, can interact with, that is the most...the best imaginable experience. And that's what videogames give you.

GameNOW: Would you ever consider developing a videogame?

Stan: Oh, I'm working on one now. [GameNOW exclusive!] Yeah, it's funny. I can work on them without having the time to play them because I know what they are. I know what they do. I know how they work. And what I'm doing is developing stories that would make good videogames.

GameNOW: Can you talk at all about [your game project]?

Stan: No, I'm sorry, only because the contracts haven't all been signed. And when they are, the companies involved are going to want

to make a big announcement on their own, you know? They'd be angry. They'd have to kill me if I told you.

(Continued)

STAN ON THE HULK

GameNOW: What originally inspired the Hulk?

Stan: Two things: the old Frankenstein movie with Boris Karloff, and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Now, starting with the Frankenstein movie, I always thought the monster was the good guy because he didn't really want to hurt anybody. But all those idiots with torches kept chasing him up and down the mountains and everything. And I thought it would be fun to get a character who's sort of a monster, and he's really good but he's misunderstood. And he terrifies everybody, and they try to kill him, not realizing that he just wants to be left alone. Then I figured it would be doubly good to take the Jekyll and Hyde idea and make him a monster who could also turn back into a normal man then turn back into the monster, the way Dr. Jekyll turned into Mr. Hyde and back again. So it was those two stories that really, if I can use such a highfalutin word, inspired me.

GameNOW: Why is the Hulk's skin green?

Stan: When I started to do the Hulk, being aware that readers like costumes, I couldn't think of any reason to give a monster a costume, any reason why a monster would run out and say, "I've got to get myself a costume." So I figured, I'll do the next best thing: I'll change the color of his skin. Originally, I made it gray. In the first issue, his skin is gray. But for some reason, the printer had trouble being consistent with the gray color. On one page he was light gray. On one page he was dark gray. On one page he looked black. On another page he looked almost white. And I thought that looked terrible. So I tried to find a color that they could print easier. And someone told me, "Oh, they have no trouble with green." So I said, "OK, we'll make him green." That's about how much thought was put into making his skin green. But it happened to be a great choice because it gave me the chance to use all kind of expressions. Like, I called him the "Jolly Green Giant," the "Green Goliath," and so forth. So that's why he has green skin: I thought he needed something like a costume without it being a costume, and I couldn't use gray because it didn't print well.

STAN ON MALLRATS

GameNOW: Your role in Mallrats, we've got to ask you about that.

Stan: Oh, yeah, my starring role. That's a funny thing, you know. Kevin Smith has done a number of movies. They've all done pretty well. And I suppose I'm a jinx. The one in which he gave me a nice role, it didn't make any money. So they're very courageous, letting me have these cameos in the other movies. It's like they're going against a curse. But I loved being in Mallrats.

ON CAREER ASPIRATIONS

GameNOW: What advice would you give to someone who wants to do what you've done?

Stan Lee: Oh, don't do it. You'll never have time to play videogames. If you're serious, the best advice to anybody who wants to be a writer is just read a lot. I know when I was young I was a voracious reader, anything I could get my hands on. My mother used to say, when I'd eat, she said, "Gee, if you don't have a book to read, you read the labels on the ketchup bottles." You can't, I don't think, be a writer unless you're well read. And that's about the only thing I can say. Beyond that, it's just up to you, how good you are and how hard you work.

MINI INTERVIEW: PHIL AND STAN

Phil: Mr. Lee? Phil here.

Stan: Yeah, but if you don't call me Stan I'm going to be very uncomfortable.

Phil: Sorry, Stan.

Stan: Attaboy.

Phil: You know, when you were just talking about giving the Hulk all the nicknames and that, I was just thinking, you know, there's The Incredible Hulk, Fantastic Four, Amazing Spider-Man...

Stan: Oh, the adjectives.

Phil: Yeah. What's with the adjectives, Stan?

Stan: Oh, I just feel they give the characters a little more color. In fact, in the moviethey're just calling it Hulk. And I guess they know best. But to me he'll always be The Incredible Hulk. Sure, I had The Invincible Iron Man. I couldn't think of anything in front of Daredevil, so I made it Daredevil: The Man Without Fear. I had to add something. And with the X-Men, I think I called them The Uncanny X-Men. I just felt it gave a little color, a little flavor to the characters. I love words. Like, even in the credits, when I used to sign the name of the artist, the writer, and so forth, I'd write Smilin' Stan Lee, Jolly Jack...

Phil: Jack "King" Kirby?

Stan: And Jack King Kirby, Stan The Man Lee. And I tried to have fun with that, like I'd write things like, let me think, "Superiorly Scripted by Stan Lee," and "Passionately Penciled by Jack Kirby," and "Invincibly Inked by Joe Sinnott." And then I'd write "Lettered with a Scratchy Pen Point by Arthur Simic." I always made the last one something different, you know. I loved writing those credits.